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Barn Theatre
Southwick Street
Southwick
West
Sussex
BN42 4TE
Ticket prices
see
Box office
online
Box office
01273 597094

reg. charity no.
263310
The Barn Theatre has a loop for the
hard-of-hearing and facilities for the disabled including wheel-chair access.

Wick thanks
St John's
for their
attendance at
our
performances
Outside links
last updated
24/12/2011 00:02
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Power
Without Glory by Michael Clayton Hutton
January 23, 24 1953 Directed by Betty Gedge |
| Cast |
| Patricia
Hollingworth - Flo |
| Betty Perry -
Maggie [her mother] |
| Maureen Baker -
Edith [Maggie's sister] |
| Patrick Johnson -
Eddie [Maggie's elder son] |
| Betty Carpenter -
Anna |
| John Wilson - Cliff
[Maggie's second son] |
| Michael Dawes -
John [Maggie's husband] |
| Production Crew |
| Stage Manager -
Diana Hubbard
|
| Lighting -
Frank Hurrell |
| Effects - John Chatfield |
| Properties - Claire
Smithers, Sheila Cottier |
|
BRIGHTON AND
HOVE GAZETTE |
Local Limelight |
| THE
Young Wick Players, having served their apprenticeship in one-act plays
and graduated to light comedies, are about to venture into strong drama
with Power Without Glory, by Michael Clayton Hutton, on January 23 and 24.
The play will be produced by a comparatively new member Betty Gedge, who
gave an excellent performance in the company's last production
And This Was Odd.
The part of Anna will be played by Betty
Carpenter, the Group's Secretary. The entire action of the play
centres round this character, the earlier scenes showing her engaged to
Eddie and later in the play transferring her affections to his brother
Cliff, which quite naturally causes something of an emotional upheaval.
The two brothers will be played by Patrick Johnson and John Wilson. |
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Bride
Unknown by Joan Brampton
[based on a novel by Charlotte M Yonge]
February 20, 21 1953 Directed by John Wilson
the programme is
not available but the press articles of the time enable the following to
be deduced |
| Cast |
| Diana Hubbard - Mary
Queen of Scots |
| Betty Gedge -
Countess of Shrewsbury |
| Sylvia Sartin -
Cicely Talbot |
| Maureen
Pettit - |
| Jennifer Hall - |
| Eileen Turley - |
| Production Crew |
| Stage Manager -
Elwyn Wass
|
| Costumes - Betty
Perry, Anita Wilcox |
| Properties - Paul
Webster, Desmond Tyler |
| Effects - John Chatfield |
| House Manager -
Donald Halfrey |
|
Review of the time |
Reviewer unknown |
|
" New play about
Mary, Queen of Scots " |
| A
successful presentation of Bride Unknown a new play by Joan
Hampton, was given by the Young Wick Players last night in the Barn
Theatre, Southwick. The story is based on a legend that the
ill-fated Mary, Queen of Scots, had a daughter, who was adopted, her
birth being kept secret. Twenty years later the girl seeks out her
mother on the eve of her execution and comforts her; but to protect her
daughter Mary refuses to reveal the secret of her birth. Under John Wilson's direction the performance reached a moving pitch of
tragic emotion. Diana Hubbard and Sylvia Sartin who shared some
effective scenes as Mary and her daughter. |
|
The
Girl Who Couldn't
Quite by Leo Marks
October 1953 Directed by Betty Carpenter the programme is
not available but the press article of the time [and subsequent
enquiries] enabled the following to
be deduced |
| Cast |
| Desmond
Tyler - Tim [Tramp] |
| Sylvia
Sartin - Ruth Taylor |
| Eileen
Turley - Pamela Taylor [Mother to Ruth] |
| Betty Gedge -
Janet Taylor [Grandmother to Ruth] |
| Edwin
Tupper - Paul Evans |
| Godfrey
Evans - Sir John Pelham |
| Ross
Workman - Tony [Manservant] |
| Production Crew |
|
Review of the time |
Reviewer unknown |
|
" His first
part, but he stole the show " |
|
Though all the male members of the cast were
inexperienced, the Young Wick Players did well with their first
production of the season at the Barn Theatre, Southwick, on Friday and
Saturday because of their choice of play, The Girl Who Couldn't Quite,
by Leo Marks. This charming and
unsophisticated comedy is a satire on the modern psychological drama.
Instead of portraying the hysterical patient under the psychiatrist's
spell, it tells the story of a girl, unable to laugh, who is cured by
the sight of a tramp with strange ideas about helping the poor by giving
them other people's property.
Producer Betty Carpenter, presenting her
first play, had to find a strong personality to take the rôle of Tim the
tramp, even through she new the Players were seriously short of male
actors. She took a risk by choosing Desmond Tyler, who looked the
part but was totally inexperienced. Although he lacked polish and
spoke his lines too fast, he carried the show. Not many people of
his age could go on stage for the first time in their lives and achieve
a minor triumph.
Godfrey Evans, as Sir John, and Edwin
Tupper, as Paul Evans, also new to the stage, did not do quite as well
as Desmond Tyler, but with a little more strength in delivery they would
have carried their not too difficult parts well. Ross Workman
would also have done better in a minor part if he had shown a little
more power.
Sylvia Sartin, Eileen Turley and Betty
Gedge all of about the same age, had the extreme difficult task of
playing daughter, mother, and grandmother. Sylvia Sartin, as the
girl who couldn't quite, certainly did not deserve this title with
respect to her acting abilities, which left little to be desired.
Eileen Turley looked a little young for her mother, but her performance
was very competent. Betty Gedge, as the grandmother, gave a
polished and convincing performance.
Despite many difficulties the players
succeeded in giving a delightful evening's entertainment. |
|
Review of the time |
Reviewer unknown |
|
" "THE GIRL WHO
COULDN'T QUITE" " |
| IF
author Leo Marks had been present at the Young Wick Player's production
of his serio-comedy The Girl Who Couldn't Quite at the Barn
Theatre, Southwick, at the week-end, he might have thought of changing the
title. Certainly he would have joined in the laughter caused by the
delightfully unselfconscious performance of the tramp who couldn't quite
remember his lines.
A newcomer to the amateur stage, Desmond
Tyler has a natural gift for buffoonery.
Lovable Vagrant
With all the sang-froid of the practiced
comedian he turned his lapses of memory into the high-spots of the
evening. What audience could fail to respond to the lovable vagrant
who confides across the footlights "Just a minute, I've forgotten me
words", and then appeals loudly to the prompter for help?
It must be a trifle disconcerting for the
rest of the cast, but such unusual informality was great fun for everyone
else.
In more serious vain, but pointing every
witty line, Betty Gedge gave an outstandingly good performance as a modern
grandmother forced to take a tramp into her house in order to entertain an
ailing granddaughter who is not quite right in the head. Sylvia
Sartin was nicely convincing in the title role, and the anxious mother was
well played by Eileen Turley.
Excellent support was given by Edwin
Tupper, Godfrey Evans and Ross Workman, and the play was produced by Betty
Carpenter. |
|
Review of the time |
Reviewer unknown |
|
" What
comes next? asked actor " |
|
PRODUCER Betty Carpenter took a chance when she cast bearded Desmond Tyler
as the tramp in the Young Wick Player's production of The Girl Who Couldn't Quite,
for he had neither been on a stage before nor to a theatre in his life.
The play was presented last week at the Barn
Theatre, Southwick, and the success of this story of a young girl who is
cured of a morbid neurosis by a kindly and philosophical tramp was largely
due to his extraordinary personality. One of the biggest laughs of
the evening was this "discovery's" frank admission that he had forgotten
the next line. But this incident, which might well have upset an
experienced player, left him quite unconcerned.
Sylvia Sartin did well as the mentally sick
Ruth, and Eileen Turley, though rather young, had dignity and composure as
the girl's mother. Youth also handicapped Betty Gedge as the
grandmother, though her performance was otherwise intelligent and capable.
The other members of the cast were Edwin Tupper, Ross Workman and Godfrey
Evans. |
|
BRIGHTON AND
HOVE GAZETTE |
Local Limelight by
Thalia |
| IT
must have been something of an ordeal for 27-year-old Desmond Tyler when
he faced the floodlights last week in the Young Wick Player's production
of The Girl Who Couldn't Quite, at the Barn Theatre, Southwick.
Desmond, who lives in the Old Village,
Portslade, had never been on a stage before and, what is more, had never
been to a theatre, but his complete unconcern gave no hint of nervousness.
As the philosophical tramp he had very little need for make-up.
Tall, with shoulder-length hair and fiery red beard and moustache, it was
simple matter to add the tattered garments suitable for a 'Knight of the
Road'.
Strangely, his own ideals echo those of the
character he portrayed. A builder by trade, his evenings are spent
digging in the garden and communing with the birds and trees, or rug
making! After serving in the forces during the war the wanderlust
took him to Australia, but the peace of Portslade eventually called him
home again. His own description of himself? A red faced devil.
For their next production,
Summer in December, the Young Wick Players have
a new producer, Mr. Clifton James of Worthing. At one time a
professional actor, Mr. James had the unusual task during the war of
impersonating "Monty" and he has made this the subject of a book which he
recently completed. |
Next Season 1954
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